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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27917938">autumn leaves</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallcrystals/pseuds/smallcrystals'>smallcrystals</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>young forever [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>My Little Pony: Equestria Girls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Break Up, F/M, Flash broke up with Sunset not the other way around istg, Pre-Canon, Pre-Equestria Girls, Unhealthy Relationships, get tissues, poetic bullshit, snips and snails are briefly here</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:47:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27917938</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallcrystals/pseuds/smallcrystals</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Flash was far from being over but all he knew was that whatever they had, like the dead leaves on the ground, had withered away.</p><p>or</p><p>One boy has his world shattered after overhearing a conversation. A conversation that maybe he shouldn’t have heard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Flash Sentry/Sunset Shimmer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>young forever [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2047994</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>autumn leaves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this may (read: will) become a little series of drabbles.</p><p>i’m very picky with the way ppl write flashset and that’s mainly my fault lmao. so i’ll try to stop complaining and start writing my own flashset so i can show ppl how it's done /hj</p><p>this is literally just heavy angst :) i posted this everywhere else ages ago and decided i might as well post it here!</p><p>enjoyy</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Sunset Shimmer’s voice had always made his chest lighter.</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Something about it when she spoke to him had his insides fluttering. Heart made of glass, crystal, held with gentle hands. Flash wasn’t sure when this happened or how he softened so easily. Sort of funny, actually. The rich, talented, popular boy at CHS had turned into a smitten kitten by the simple glance of a pretty, also talented, girl that wasn’t afraid of anyone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash steadied his breathing after jumping at Sunset’s voice. He figured it’d be empty since he was ten minutes early to his next lesson and he had nothing better to do but it turned out he heard Sunset Shimmer’s loud, cosy laughter from behind that door. His hand slid off the door handle just before he opened it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He would have normally if he didn’t hear his name out of the girl’s mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash leaned into the corridor to check if anyone was passing by and once he concluded there was no one, he pressed his ear against the classroom door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leaves floated in the wind. Autumn came quickly this year. Colours of sunset, damp from the rain season, they played along with the breeze. Flash lowered his gaze from the windows across from him. Corridors were glum as if drenched by the muddy footsteps of freshmen and basketball players on their way to lunch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash scrunched his eyebrows when Snips’ muffled voice reached his ears. Questionable, especially when no other faint chatter could be heard in the classroom, but it wasn’t anything super out of the ordinary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, so that’s it?” He heard Snails say. “That’s all there is between you two?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash blinked. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Between who? </span>
  </em>
  <span>He let out an unsteady breath when he connected his name to the unknown topic discussed. His heart was already thumping at an abnormal rate, much more than a normal </span>
  <em>
    <span>hey, I kind of like this girl a lot </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he only now took that as a sign that this didn’t feel right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset practically cackled. He flinched. Flash glanced out at the sky, painted grey. “Yeah, that’s literally it. What else did you think it was?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um,” Snips dragged out. “Nothing, it’s just you’re really good at acting. You two genuinely look like a couple.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash’s exhale quivered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were talking about her and him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean, that’s the point. No one’s supposed to know it’s a ruse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Does he know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Does Flash Sentry know?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew what that answer was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash could choke. His eyes steamed, welling up and his throat harshly tightened. His backpack almost slid off his shoulder as he slackened. The world in his head crumbled; the glass heart Sunset held up so dearly fell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A ruse? Did that mean those times they laughed at the back of English mean absolutely nothing? Or those times where she got him out of trouble with Mr Cranky Doodle for chewing gum in class? Did his heart go nuts after their first kiss only for hers to remain absolutely normal—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what’s all this for then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, like, I don’t really see the point in dragging him around.” Snips asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset scoffed. Flash felt his eyes widen, ears blocking out everything else to only hear her voice. The voice he found so gorgeous, fire-coloured, sweet like the apricots Sunset made him try that one night by the river, had his feelings hanging from it and Flash knew it wouldn’t take long before that happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think I’m stupid not to take advantage of the fact he’s popular and fucking talented?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash bit into his lip, nearly cutting into the skin of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No—nonononono, fuck, fuck, fuck.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The shards of his heart desperately tried to piece themselves together but with every thought that hit his head, it fractured, even more, breaking them into tinier, indecipherable bits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was all he was worth. A tool, a stepping block, a museum of talents that get swept away if he ever let his doors open. Someone people would fight over just to get what they want, just to get that sliver of attention from and then dumped to the side when things went wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset said no one would use him again. She told him that separating everyone into their own kind would keep him away from those who saw him as something to play games with. Even while she was right, no one dared do what they did to him just a year ago, that wasn’t by the hands of Sunset’s separation. Rather by the hands of Sunset herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>”Don’t you </span>
  <em>
    <span>see </span>
  </em>
  <span>how everyone goes crazy over him?” Sunset continued. “He’s the school’s prized possession. And to think </span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>had the guts to go and ask him out and then be with him to the point where everyone in this </span>
  <em>
    <span>goddamn </span>
  </em>
  <span>school fears me? Isn’t that amazing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash clenched his teeth. His sight blurred to watercolour, his neck burning like acid fizzing away at his tonsils. His head clouded, thrusting curses back and forth along with taunts, taunts he thought he had shoved into the deepest dungeons of his mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew she was vile, voice coloured like the dead leaves of autumn, but to him, she was still green. She still had bits of green by the midribs, surrounded by the orange.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s all a ruse.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash wanted to scream. He wiped the heel of his palm against his cheeks as tears irritated his skin. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck you. Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou. </span>
  </em>
  <span>His mind hoaxed scenes, moments, numerous times simply to torture him, laughing at the sharp glass shards scattered on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Times where Sunset spoon-fed him yoghurt after she grew obsessed with it, times where he’d run around a supermarket with her lazily sitting in the trolly, screaming as they went faster, times where they didn’t even kiss, just hugged for comfort, begging for the tears to come and leave. Little memories of Flash resting his head on Sunset’s lap, watching leaves lose their colours and fall on their own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was what they were. Bright, green leaves that turned crimson when the daylight reached them less.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were autumn leaves and their relationship was only withering away.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Flash Sentry’s voice had always been the best façade.</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>His range was wide, his control over its strength never loosened and everyone always believed him. They said words were only seven percent of how humans communicated and everything else was in the tone of voice and the body language. He had no idea when he managed to manipulate those features of his face or the sound of his voice, but he wouldn’t put it past himself. Especially after dating Sunset Shimmer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t lie to Sunset in particular. He faked a grin for the rockers in his class, sat on a desk metres away from where Sunset was. She was sitting in her seat in the corner of the classroom, fiddling with a pencil.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash unclenched his jaw.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Snips and Snails weren’t in their class, so that left Sunset Shimmer by herself. Seeing her trying to flip a stupid pencil with that stupid pout on her face, slumping in her seat as she waited for lunch to be over had his half-mended heart melting. She always did that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Was this what love was? Pain after pain, disguised smiles and meaningless fun days? If it was then he didn’t want it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was a lie. He needed it, even if it hurt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash closed his eyes, sighed out a cold breath and walked to his seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sunset,” he said. He didn’t wait for a response. “Can I talk to you in private for a sec?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t mean to sound so polite but if he said it in any other way, his voice would slip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset looked up at him. Cyan eyes. That was the one thing that stood out to him, her eyes. While Flash’s eyes were cornflower blue, blending well with his blue hair, Sunset’s cyans were out of place. Not a bad out of place, it was unusually fitting. The vast difference between crimson, yellow and cyan. Crimson and yellow reminded him of the dead leaves, whereas the cyan lulled him into a fallacious sense of hope. Or maybe the myth that in every evil, there was kindness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes met his directly. “Um, sure. Something wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash didn’t answer, leading her out the door and into the corridor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Sunset asked, slipping her hands into the pockets of her jeans.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could barely look at her while hearing the sense of worry in her voice. He hated how he couldn’t even </span>
  <em>
    <span>tell </span>
  </em>
  <span>if she was lying. She probably even was and she was just as good manipulating her voice as he was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sunset, be honest with me,” Flash started, tone dropping numerous octaves. Sunset tilted her head. “Do you genuinely have feelings for me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset’s lips parted. “Of course I do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She’s lying. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Genuinely, Sunset. Do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>genuinely </span>
  </em>
  <span>have feelings for me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She drew her eyebrows in. “I don’t know what you want me to say, I’m not lying to you, baby.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You are so fucking stupid, </span>
  </em>
  <span>his head chided at himself. “So, to you, genuinely having feelings for me is the same as using me to get more popular?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash wished he hadn’t seen the blood drain from her face. He so fucking wished he didn’t. Flash leaned his body against the lockers as he sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sunset. You </span>
  <em>
    <span>know </span>
  </em>
  <span>how I feel about that. You </span>
  <em>
    <span>know </span>
  </em>
  <span>how many people have fought over me, satisfied themselves with a fraction of my attention to only get rid of me when I’m no use to them anymore. You fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>know.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” He pulled on a sour smile, leaning against the lockers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Flash, no, listen—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He choked out a laugh. “Listen to what?” Flash hissed. “Don’t charm your way out of this because you know very well I’m gonna fall for it and as much as I hate myself, I’m not letting that happen again.” His eyes ached. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t fall, don’t fall. Don’t fall like the autumn leaves outside. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“So, do you actually care about me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset opened her mouth, hand reaching for Flash’s face. He would’ve let her, he would’ve let her do it over and over, regardless of what he heard in that room. But she paused, closing her mouth, biting her lip. Sunset tore eye contact with him. There was his answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t believe you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He loathed how easily Sunset brought his glass heart on his cheek to his sleeve. His fragile wrists wiped the water streams on his face. He went from a person who shielded his emotions to someone who showed them like a piece of artwork, all for the one person who didn’t even care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And all the other people who’ve used me in the past – I didn’t care about them. They were just ‘friends’ I came across when I was new here. I got over them easier because I knew that’s how they were. That’s how popularity is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset’s jaw tightened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually </span>
  </em>
  <span>care about you. Do you know how much that hurts? I wouldn’t fucking care if you were just leading me on because I’m used to that, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>this?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes dropped, arms rising to cover her half-bare arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wandered into my life, took the time to hang out with me, actually let me show a side of myself that I’ve never shown to anyone outside of my family. You told me I wasn’t worthless, someone actually worth living for, someone with hopes and dreams and talents that don’t revolve around motherfuckers in high school and you </span>
  <em>
    <span>still…</span>
  </em>
  <span>” He didn’t need to continue, it wasn’t like she didn’t know already. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted so badly to believe the person in front of her was regretting the shit she did. He would go through it again because he was nothing without this agony apparently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is all just comedy to you, isn’t it?” Flash wet his lips as he breathed, chest tight. His cheeks were wet, hot, and he felt like puking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset looked up at him and then jerked her shoulder to fix her hair. “Do you want me to admit it?” Her voice was dry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’d be </span>
  <em>
    <span>nice,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Flash muttered, words wet and dipped in salt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I—” Sunset’s chest fell as she exhaled, one look at Flash’s face and there she was again, silent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t even say it.” Flash curled his lips. “You’re such an asshole.” His eyebrows narrowed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash rolled his eyes with a laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want me for? Do you even need me anymore?” Flash crossed his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sunset pressed her lips together. Flash wanted to cry. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Why is this so hard? </span>
  </em>
  <span>He wanted to scream at his fucking reflection for still wanting her to come into his arms, for her to open up and tell her what it was all for. He wouldn’t lie and say Sunset was never honest with him but he couldn’t figure out what was what.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe they were both. Both lies and truths. He wouldn’t put it past her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know if I said yes, you’d actually stay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash tossed her a pained, mocking smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I couldn’t care less about myself. Would you change if I stayed?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t mean change as in change what she was doing to him. He had grown numb to crying. Flash meant to stop everything that she was doing to everyone else. Bullying his childhood friends, separating everyone, growing nuts for something he couldn’t understand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash wasn’t surprised when Sunset eventually shook her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked up at the teardrops attaching themselves to the window and rolling down the glass, the wind blowing leaf after leaf off the branches. Refocusing his vision back to the girl in front of him, he forced on a pained smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great.” He shrugged a shoulder. The sound of his half-mended heart disintegrating rang in his ears. “Guess we’re done.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gritted his teeth, pulling any tear that could fall from his eyes. He straightened his posture and let a shaky breath out. Walls back up. Back to square one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m…” Sunset spoke up again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash didn’t really give her a chance to speak before so he halted. He watched as she, yet again, avoided eye contact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m s…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t get his hopes up that she’d say it. Because she wouldn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When seconds passed and she still remained silent, Flash glanced at the ground and then started his walk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I did care about you, Flash.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t put up with it. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Flash closed his eyes and let the tears fall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can stop lying to me now, Sunset, it’s okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t wait for her reply.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span><strong>Flash Sentry wandered out of the boy’s bathroom with red knuckles, red cheeks, and red eyes.</strong> Head spinning, throat closing up. The corridors were bare, dull, rain season like. He turned and turned, leading him to Canterlot High School’s foyer. Wind slipped through the double door cracks, enveloping him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes fall to the leaves, stuck to the murky school grounds, scraped by wet trainers, folded in half, some torn even. Up close, the precarious leaves had life sucked out of them, like corpses, a shell of itself. Splotches of brown dirtied them by the veins too. None of them looked like the sunset of colours anymore, dancing the breeze’s tunes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flash was far from being over but all he knew was that whatever they had, like the dead leaves on the ground, had withered away.</span>
</p>
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